Accident Details
On August 1, 2019, at approximately 1615 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna P210, registration N234SB, was substantially damaged during a landing accident at Gnoss Field Airport in Novato, California. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a business flight.
Pilot Report
The pilot reported making a normal approach and configuring the airplane for landing on runway 13. As the aircraft passed over the runway designation markings, the nose felt as if it was being forced downward and subsequently impacted the runway surface. The airplane bounced, touched down again, and the nose gear collapsed. The propeller contacted the runway, and the airplane veered off the asphalt, coming to rest in the grass median.
The pilot believed the nose gear collapse resulted from a failure of the lower trunnion, which was the subject of Cessna Service Bulletin SEB94-19 issued in July 1994. That bulletin states that lower trunnion failures occur forward of the side brace due to cracks caused by improper ground handling procedures. The bulletin advised inspection of the nose landing gear lower trunnion for cracks until replacement with a new strengthened trunnion. It could not be determined whether the airplane had been maintained in compliance with the bulletin, and compliance was not mandatory. The accident trunnion did not exhibit signatures consistent with a failure in the area of concern.
Postaccident Examination
A Federal Aviation Administration-certified airframe and powerplant mechanic performed a postaccident examination of the nose gear. The mechanic reported that the fork had fractured and was bent aft. The retraction cylinder appeared consistent with having impacted while in compression, and the links were intact. The mechanic stated that all signatures were consistent with the nose strut failing due to a heavy aft force that would occur with an extreme nose-low impact or encounter with an obstacle.